Fight for this love
by FrancescaBoscorelli
Summary: Henry's father comes to town all of a sudden and Charming sees this as the perfect opportunity to set Jefferson into proving he's worth of his daughter's love. Emma/Jefferson, Mad Swan.


**Title**: Fight for this love

**Pairing**: Emma/Jefferson, Mad Swan

**Disclamer**: Still not mine...sadly.

**A/N:** This is my very first Mad Swan fic, please be nice okay? Also I totally made up the name of Henry's dad and the story behind it. I figured since Emma was eighteen when she had Henry things with the dad might have not work out so well, which could have been one of the reason why she gave him up.

Don't forget to review!

* * *

When Charming aka my father said a duel was about to take place I thought he was joking. I even laughed for a second, then the way he stared at me with wide eyes made me stop. He was oh so completely serious. A duel involving swords and two men fighting for a lady, the lady being me obviously. He was also completely serious when he explained the reasons why the duel had to take place too. He mentioned something about me being royalty and having two men in my life was not something very princess-ish, which meant that they had to "fight" for my love. But I knew the only reason why he was doing this was because he still thought Jefferson was not worthy of me, despite everything he has done to prove himself to him and my entire family. Charming still thinks its not enough.

Then to make matters worse Henry's father decided it was the perfect time to arrive at Storybrooke claiming he had made a mistake in letting me go, that he wanted to get his "family" back and he was going to do whatever he took to get me and his son back into his life. He obviously didn't care about the fact that I hate him with passion and that I'm currently engaged to another man.

That's when my father came with the brilliant idea of a duel. Because according to him it would be the only reasonable way of proving someone to be worthy of my hand in marriage. Screw the fact that I'm in love with someone else. Apparently nobody does these days.

Also, I should have mentioned this before because is more important than anything else. I'm supposed to marry the one who survives this battle.

Which is how I completely lost my temper.

"This whole thing is stupid and completely ridiculous, not to mention unnecessary" I protested, although I obviously know it's a waste of time." And I already made my choice. I'm marrying Jefferson"

"He's not the right man for you. We already discussed this..."

"And the man who abandoned me while I was pregnant with Henry is?"

"Jefferson kidnapped you and your mother"

"He already said he was sorry, I told you before…" I cannot begin to explain how many times we've discuss this. Over and over again ever since I started dating him, and I cannot even begin to mention how much he protested when I invited him over for dinner the first time. Snow is a completely different story though, she plays the middleman whenever we started arguing about it. She understands, she knows I'm in love and that's all that matters to her.

"Either way, the duel will take place. End of the story" The discussion ends as quickly as it begins. Apparently nobody could argue with Prince Charming, except Snow.

"Fine. But it doesn't mean I will agree with this bullshit. " I snap, quickly making my way out before he could respond as harshly as I did.

I always thought he would be upset about my engagement but all of this was way too far. Not understanding is one thing, forcing two men to fight for my love was beyond crazy. Truth is what really truly pisses me off is that Charming talks about how Snow and him fought to be together yet he refuses to acknowledge that Jefferson is in fact my true love and the man I decided to spend the rest of my life with. Yes he has made mistakes, I'm completely aware of that, but he has also spent a huge amount of time apologizing for it. Not only to me but to my parents as well.

Again this was the most ridiculous idea he has ever had.

* * *

"Do you even know how to sword fight?" I ask Jefferson. Sitting at Granny's having breakfast, like we did every day. He just watches me, sipping his warm tea.

"No"

"No? Jefferson you could get yourself killed" I protest which didn't stop him from smiling. Why was he even agreeing with all this stupidity? "That's it. I'm putting an end to all this crap…"

"Emma, come on…"

" This is ridiculous. You could lose me, this could all go to hell and to make everything hundred times worse you could die. How can you not be remotely nervous about all this?" I speak and he frowns for a second

"Who says that I'm not?" he speaks, lowering his gaze towards his half empty cup between his hands . I feel bad enough for asking because I know, even if he looks calm right now the mere thought of losing me and everything we have is eating him alive. " Look maybe Jeremy doesn't know how to sword fight either which will be my luck"

"He does!"

Sad but true. Jeremy was a fencing coach and even if it was sort of different to what he was supposed to do, it did gave him advantage.

"Really?" Jefferson asks, exchanging looks between me and Ruby behind the counter. "well that's…a bit complicated then"

I groan loudly, holding my head between my hands. I feel frustrated and pissed, at everyone. No, scratch that, I'm pissed at Charming for coming up with this stupid idea and at Jeremy for showing up just when my life was starting to feel normal. Jefferson moves closer to me, his hand making small circles in my back and I lean in to feel him closer.

"I don't want you to do this" I whisper. Our faces a few inches apart, I can smell his cologne, his aftershave, his tea scented breath.

"I will be fine, there's no need for you to worry" he speaks. "Besides missing a few limbs how bad could it be" He jokes and I smack his arm hard. He smiles, as if what was about to happen wasn't wrong and completely dangerous.

"This is NOT funny" I complain. "Besides I know my father is only doing this because he doesn't like you…"

"Yeah well, he's got a fine way of showing his distaste for me. I can assure you that"

"You can always say you don't want to duel. I'm sure there's fine with an objection"

"No. I won't do that, your father thinks of me as less than a man for what I did to you and your mother. I don't want to give him another reason to hate me even more"

"I'm sorry…" I whisper and trap him into a tight hug, his arms around my waist to pull me impossibly closer. "I'm sorry I got you into this."

"Emma there's nothing for you to be sorry about. I got myself into this and I won't back out." He whispers into my ear "I'm doing this for you, I want to do this for you. I will fight for your love a hundred times and with the world's most horrible beast if its necessary"

I let myself get lost in his embrace, not being able to respond to his sweet words, just praying and hoping this doesn't end badly.

* * *

Almost the entire town of Storybrooke stood in the middle of the main street. Snow and Ruby close together, waiting for the sword fighting to start. As much as Charming protested I decide to stand by the man I want to support, and we walk together towards the crowd, my hand tight around his. Jeremy approaches us a few minutes later and the way he flashes a smile at me makes me want to punch him so hard.

Jefferson stands in front of me and smiles warmly.

"You still have time to back out" I say and he shakes his head quickly.

"No, I told you I'm doing this"

"But you don't have to"

"Emma, we talked about this"

"Well _THIS_ is ridiculous" I state and he giggles softly which pissed me off a little bit. How can he be so relaxed if he could die today, in any moment?

"You know? This was really romantic back in the day" Snow speaks, smiling dreamily. "Two men fighting for a woman's heart."

"Well this is the twentieth century and we don't do this. This isn't fairytale land, this is Storybrooke and we don't throw people into fighting for whatever reason." I protest.

"Dear friends" Charming calls and we snap our attention towards the man. "Thank you for joining us today, where these two fine man will fight for the heart of my beloved daughter Emma."

Eyes were briefly focus on me, judging me I know it, and I shift uncomfortable on my spot. Surely if someone dies today I will be crucified.

"Which is pointless, I might add" I interrupt him and Snow shushes me quickly. "What? Its true…"

"Jefferson and Jeremy, please step into the circle"

Both men do as they are told slowly. Charming hands each of them a sword and I flinch at the sight of it. Jeremy knows what he's doing, he knows how to use that stupid thing, but Jefferson doesn't. He looks unsure of what to do, and even if he says he's not scared the minute the sword is in his hands fear can be visibly seen in his blue eyes. Nonetheless, he shares one last warm smile with me and my heart jolts inside my chest. Jeremy tries to do the same but I sent him a hateful look his way and he stops midway, the smile quickly banishing from his lips.

"I can't watch this…" I whisper to no one in particular and just as I speak the fight begins. I cover my eyes with my hand as quickly as everything started because if someone actually thought that I was going to sit down and watch them fight, they were totally wrong.

I feel snow's hand tighten on my arm at the sound the swords colliding. There were several 'oooh and uuuuh' from the people surrounding us and with each passing minute my heart accelerates.

All of a sudden the clicks stops and I uncover my eyes to find Jefferson on the ground, Jeremy's sword precisely on his neck. What I see only makes matters worse; Jefferson was bleeding from his left arm and from his lips, pretty sure the asshole that was my ex boyfriend punched him when he knew I wasn't looking. Jeremy was bleeding too but I didn't really care, he deserved to be kicked in the ass.

"That's it. It's enough!" I step between the two fighting man and push Jeremy as far away from Jefferson as humanly possible. "Stop this right now" Jefferson takes this opportunity to get up from the floor and wipe away the dirt and blood from his face and Jeremy, ignoring my request, makes a lame attempt of walking towards Jefferson to continue the fight, with or without swords. "I said stop!" once again I push Jeremy away with all strength I can muster.

"Emma you cannot interfere…" Charming interrupts, making his way towards me.

"Like hell I can't. I've told you a hundred times this is the most ridiculous idea in the world"

"You're in Storybrooke and we don't do things this way, we let people decide who they want to be with for the rest of their lives, we don't make them fight so they can win a woman like a trophy." I snap. Charming looks pissed but at this point I'm too upset to care. "I already made my decision and if you don't understand that's too bad"

I turn around towards Jeremy, who stands there with a goofy and annoying look on his face. I can't help but feel the anger surface again, the whole moment when he dump me after telling him I was carrying Henry flashes before my eyes. I wish I could only take a brief second to just slap him across the face like I should have done a long time ago.

"Jeremy…" I speak but before I can continue Jefferson snorts and I turn my attention towards him briefly.

"Right. I knew it." He whispers, shaking his head slowly.

"What?"

"It's okay Emma. Don't worry, I understand" he speaks. I'm so taken aback by his sudden words that I don't really know how to respond. I share a confuse look with Snow, who just shrugs. "You and Jeremy have history together, the only things I'm doing is standing in the way of you and Henry's happiness"

"Jefferson what are you talking about?" I try to approach him but he step away, raising his hand in defeat. He walks away before I could even try to convince him his reaction was so wrong, but he was already too far away from me to reach.

"Emma…" Jeremy reaches out, touching my arm with his warm hand and I push him away harshly. The whole idea of him near me made me want to puke.

"Get the hell away from me" I snap, drifting my attention towards him while angry tears roll down my cheeks. "I'm going to say this once, I don't want you here. I never did. Henry doesn't need you, I don't need you, the last thing I want in my life is to be close to you. If you want to do something for me and MY son, take your shit and leave MY town before I kick your ass"

Before he can even respond I walk away from the whole town, following Jefferson's path. I ignore Snow's yelling and Charming's protesting too focused on finding him and somehow explaining, the sudden fear of losing him all too fresh in my heart and soul.

* * *

By the time I reach his house my heart was beating so fast I thought it was gonna come out off my mouth in any second. But I didn't care, truly didn't, the only thing in my mind was him and only him. I knock on his door quickly, praying and hoping he wouldn't ignore me.

He doesn't.

"hey…" somehow that's the only thing I can say, strangely. When I should be saying 'I'm sorry for all the mess I created, I love you please still marry me'. But apparently my brain couldn't process anything properly.

"Emma." He speaks, opening the door wide for me to walk in. As soon as walk inside he moves towards the living room, turning his back on me as he walks. I can't see his face but I know he's upset, or maybe not upset but disappointed, probably a little bit heartbroken too. Or maybe both. Either way its not a very nice combination.

"Can we talk about this?" I ask because I just want to make sure he won't just kick me out of his house. The Jefferson I love wouldn't, but the 'mad and upset Jefferson' would. But he ignores me. He just sits on the couch and avoids my gaze at all cost. "Jefferson…"

"Look Emma I understand. I really do" he speaks and I drop myself next to him as the words come out of his mouth. "You and Jeremy belong together and…."

"But we don't!" I snap "This is what I've been trying to say all along. I don't love him, I never did!"

"He is Henry's father"

"He dumped me when I told about my pregnancy. He's hardly a father at all"

"Well maybe this is your chance to start a family. He's here to get you back, maybe giving him a second change is the best choice" he looks down at his hands, playing with the fingers in his lap without looking at me.

"Jefferson what the hell are you talking about?"

"Henry needs his father…"

"Henry already has a father and that's you" I snap which is more than enough for him to rise his head to look at me. " I don't want anyone else to be my son's dad than you. I don't care about Jeremy, I never did and surely he doesn't care about Henry either if he didn't dare to show up before"

He reaches out for my hand, giving it a light squeeze.

"I don't want Henry to think he won't be able to see his father because of me" He speaks softly.

"Its not because of you, its because of me. I don't want him to realize his father is the biggest jerk ever who didn't want him at all"

"But Emma…"

"I love you." I interrupt him, once again giving his hand a light squeeze. "I love you more than I ever loved somebody in my life, I made up my mind long ago Jefferson. You are the man I want to be with, nobody else. Can we just forget about Jeremy and the awful idea Charming had and move on? "

"Yeah, I think we can. But are you sure you still want to marry me...?"

"Jefferson can you just shut up and kiss me?"

He doesn't answer, there's no need for anything to say truth be told. The only thing it matter right now is his lips moving upon mine, the way he manages to pull me towards his lap and how our bodies move together at our own private dance.

**THE END!**


End file.
